The Soviet School of Chess is recognized as one of the classics of contemporary chess literature; at the same time, from a strictly political viewpoint, it must be read with considerable caution. Many of the technological works originating in the Soviet Union today unfortunately bear the stamp of a highly energetic propaganda machine, and even chess is not free of this influence. There are, therefore, many inconsistencies in this book which the reader will discover for himself after a careful reading; it is perhaps not amiss to enumerate a few of them here.

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Introduction PART ONE

Chapter One. Early History
– Page 7

Chapter Two. Founder of the Russian School
– Page 9
– Mikhail Chigorin’s Contribution to Opening Theory 22
– Open Games 24
– Semi-Open and Closed Openings 29

Chapter Three. Russia’s Greatest Player
– Page 36
– Alekhine and the Theory of Openings 44
– Open Games 44
– Semi-Open Games 47
– Closed Openings 49

Chapter Four. Development of the Soviet School
– Page 53
– Illustrious Names 58
– Page 79

Chapter Five. Main Features of the Soviet School
– Page 81
– A. The Opening
– Open Games 89
– Semi-Open Games 94
– Closed Games 98
– B. The Middle Game 101
– C. The End-Game 108

Chapter Six. Chess Literature
– Page 112
– Page 3

PART TWO

Chapter One. Grandmasters
– Page 122
– Mikhail Botvinnik 122
– Vasily Smyslov 139
– Yury Averbakh 155
– Isaac Boleslavsky 160
– Igor Bondarevsky 168
– David Bronstein 177
– Salo Flohr 188
– Yefim Geller 194
– Paul Keres 201
– Victor Korchnoi 208
– Alexander Kotov 211
– Grigori Levenfish 220
– Andrea Lilienthal 229
– Tigran Petrosyan 235
– Vyacheslav Ragozin 243
– Boris Spassky 251
– Mark Taimanov 255
– Mikhail Tal 262
– Alexander Tolush 266

Chapter Two. Prominent Masters
– Page 272
– Vladimir Alatortsev 272
– Lev Aronin 274
– Vitaly Chekhover 277
– Pyotr Dubinin 281
– Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky 284
– Semyon Furman 291
– Victor Goglidze 294
– Georgi Ilivitsky 296
– Ilya Kan 299
– Genrikh Kasparyan 302
– Ratmir Kholmov 306
– Alexander Konstantinopolsky 309
– Isaac Lipnitsky 312
– Georgi Lisitsyn 315
– Vladimir Makogonov 317
– Vladas Mikenas 320
– Rashid Nezhmetdinov 323
– Nikolai Novotelnov 326
– Vasily Panov 329
– Pyotr Romanovsky 332
– Vladimir Simagin 340
– Alexei Sokolsky 343
– Gavriil Veresov 347
– Mikhail Yudovich 351

Chapter Three. Women Players
– Page 353
– Elizaveta Bykova 353
– Olga Rubtsova 360
– Ludmila Rudenko 363
– Valentina Borisenko 367
– Olga Ignatieva 370
– Nina Voitsik 373
– Larisa Volpert 375
– Kira Zvorykina 378

Appendix
– Soviet Grandmasters 380
– Soviet Masters 380
– Masters of Chess Composition 381

Indexes
– Name Index 383
– Game Index 388